James Doohan
| Date of death = (age 85) | Place of birth = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | Place of death = Redmond, Washington, USA | Characters = Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott (Primary character; see Appearances) | image2 = Montgomery Scott, 2267.jpg }} "I really enjoyed Jimmy Doohan enormously. He was ready to go out there and act. I found him responsive to direction, a team player, which is important because this is a movie about a team. Funny" – Nicholas Meyer, Director on (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (The Director's Edition) DVD-special feature, "audio commentary") James "Jimmy" Montgomery Doohan portrayed Montgomery "Scotty" Scott on Star Trek: The Original Series and the first seven ''Star Trek'' movies. He also appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode and in the archive footage used in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode . His work as Scotty ranged over a twenty-nine year period, with his first being in in and his last appearance being in in . Early life and World War II Doohan was born in March of 1920 in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia. Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, nineteen-year-old Doohan enlisted as a gunner in the Royal Canadian Artillery. After rising through the ranks to Sergeant, he won a place at Officer Training School, becoming a Lieutenant in the 13th Field Artillery Regiment. On 6 June 1944, Doohan, by then promoted to Command Post Officer (Captain), was among the Canadian forces sent to take Juno Beach in Normandy as part of the D-Day invasion. He was in command of 120 men. That night, Doohan was hit by machine-gun fire when returning to his command post, sustaining wounds in the leg, right hand and chest – a cigarette case caught a bullet that would otherwise have killed him – and lost the middle finger of his right hand (because of this injury, outside of rare occasions, Doohan would conceal that portion of his right hand in film shots.) "I was twenty-four," Doohan wrote in his book Beam Me Up, Scotty, "And if the Germans had been marginally better shots, I wouldn't have seen twenty-five." After convalescing in England, Doohan became a qualified pilot at 43 Operational Training Unit, Andover, England, winning Air Observation Post pilot's wings in early 1945. He was posted to 666 (AOP) RCAF Squadron, where he flew the AUSTER Mark V aircraft, a dangerous, low-level flight tasking for artillery officers who photographed enemy positions, and directed artillery fire from the air. Although 666 (AOP) RCAF Squadron was not sent into battle, the unit was stationed at Apeldoorn, Holland, through the summer of 1945 to conduct "air taxi" duties, as documented in the 1945 publication (and 2006 republication), Battle History 666 (Calgary: Abel Book Company, 2006), and in the 2002 publication entitled Canada's Flying Gunners, by Col. Dave Fromow. Radio and early television After the war, Doohan started work in radio, but quickly branched out into TV, movies, and plays. By the 1950s, he had moved to America and had begun appearing as a guest star in minor television shows and movies. By the 1960s, he had credited guest star roles on such historic shows as The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Have Gun Will Travel, The Virginian, and Gunsmoke. His roles in these series also had Doohan coming into contact with several future Star Trek actors, including Skip Homeier and Keith Andes who appeared with Doohan in an episode of The Outer Limits. ''Star Trek'' Doohan's special ability to do multiple accents originated from his time as voice actor on Canadian radio and this specialty landed him in the role of Scotty in 1965. Director James Goldstone and producer Gene Roddenberry asked him to read some lines from the script of , proposing for the role of the not named Chief Engineer, doing different accents. Doohan did several different ones, including German and Italian, from which he finally choose Scottish, citing Scotsmen's great engineering skills. (The World of Star Trek) At around this same time, Doohan did a Scottish accent in the pilot of the Western Iron Horse which was directed by Goldstone, who co-created that series with Stephen Kandel, the writer and producer of that show's pilot. Steve Ihnat also appeared in that episode. The only other time Doohan did a Scottish accent prior to the debut of Star Trek was in a 1963 episode of the sitcom Hazel entitled "Hazel's Highland Fling". Roddenberry originally wanted to leave out Doohan and the character of Scotty after the second pilot, but Doohan's agent got angry when he heard the news of his client planned to be fired, and eventually convinced Roddenberry to keep Scotty in the series. (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story) A skilled voice actor, Doohan contributed many voices to both the original series and the animated series, including (among others) Lt. Arex. Doohan also created the first words of the Klingon language, Klingonese, which was later expanded by Marc Okrand. He also helped to shape some words and sounds for the Vulcan language. After Star Trek After the end of the Star Trek TV series in 1969, Doohan spent the 1970s performing various roles in television and film, in an attempt to continue his acting career. During this time, Doohan appeared in the 1971 films Man in the Wilderness and Pretty Maids All in a Row, the latter of which also featured William Campbell and Dawn Roddenberry and which was written by Gene Roddenberry. Doohan also guest-starred on the TV series Marcus Welby, M.D., Tarzan and the Super 7, Daniel Boone (1969 - "The Cache", 1970 - "Perilous Passage") and Return to Peyton Place. Between 1973 and 1974, Doohan returned to the role of Scotty in Star Trek: The Animated Series. He would later be cast as "Commander Canarvin" in the 1978 science fiction series Jason of Star Command. This series used several musical scores from the Animated Series and co-starred Sid Haig as the main protagonist. Star Trek films during filming of "Relics" in 1992.]] Doohan was propelled back into the role of Scotty in 1979, with the release of . In the 1980s, he appeared as guest star on the hit shows Magnum, P.I., MacGyver, and Fantasy Island, but by 1982, with the release of , Doohan was effectively typecast as Scotty, and spent the rest of his career appearing in the remaining major Star Trek films along with a few minor roles in various television shows. Doohan being typecast was exemplified by his cameo appearance as a "Scotty" in the 1993 spoof movie Loaded Weapon 1 (also featuring fellow Original Series actor William Shatner) where he reprised his famous role in a parodying manner, trying to fix a coffee making machine. In 1991, Doohan appeared in a cameo role on the remake film Knight Rider 2000. The next year, he reprised his role of Scotty for the episode . Alexander Singer, the director of the episode, was in concordance with his above quoted movie colleague Nicholas Meyer, reaffirming that Doohan "was a delight to work with, and he got all the jokes, so to speak". (Cinefantastique, Vol. 24, issue 3/4, p. 24) Later life Doohan's last on-screen role as Scotty was in 1994 when he appeared in . In 1996-97, he appeared as a regular supporting character on the sitcom Homeboys In Outer Space. He played a character named "Pippin" (the name which referred to his Scotty role as well as the athlete Scottie Pippen). By the 2000s, Doohan's age had limited his activities but he kept busy speaking at colleges and Star Trek conventions. In July 2004, Doohan announced that he had been diagnosed with in addition to his existing Parkinson's disease and diabetes, and would be withdrawing from public life. His final public appearance took place on , at the ceremony for his star on the . Doohan's last credited film role was as a judge in a 2005 direct-to-TV sci-fi/horror film entitled Skinwalker: Curse of the Shaman. Doohan lost his battle with Alzheimer's disease, complicated by , at 5:30 a.m. on 20 July 2005 - a fitting date, as July 20 was the anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, arguably the greatest engineering achievement in Human history. He was 85 years old. He died at his Redmond, Washington, home with his third wife Wende by his side. He asked his family to have him cremated and his remains shot into space. After nearly two years of delays, this wish was finally granted: his ashes were launched into space on from New Mexico. More of his ashes were launched into space on board the first SpaceX Dragon capsule launched towards the International Space Station on . http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47514404/ns/technology_and_science-space/#.T7uLR1IoNk5 He left behind a total of seven children from his three marriages; his most recent, Sarah, was born in 2000 when he was 80 years old. One of his twin sons, Christopher, has honored his late father by playing an transporter technician in and , and even reprised his father's role in the fan film series Star Trek Continues from 2012 onward. Doohan was among those to receive tribute in the 2006 Memoriam reel at the 79th Annual Academy Awards. The reel used a scene from in which Kirk tells Scotty, "Thank you, Mr. Scott," to which Scott replies, "Aye, sir." Several costumes and costume components worn by Doohan in Star Trek were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay, including a stunt version of his undershirt. Appearances as Scotty * - all episodes except: ** ** (Season 1) ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** (Season 2) ** ** * every episode except * : ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** (Picture only) * * (archival footage) Additional roles Voice and actor File:Scotty (mirror).jpg|Montgomery Scott (mirror) ( ) File:Illusory montgomery scott empath.jpg|Illusory Montgomery Scott ( ) Voiceover roles File:Sargon crew.jpg|Sargon File:M-5 multitronic unit.jpg|M-5 multitronic unit File:Melkotian buoy remastered.jpg|A Melkotian buoy File:Oracle of the People.jpg|Oracle of the People File:Montgomery Scott, 2270.jpg|Montgomery Scott Recurring character File:Kyle, 2269.jpg|Kyle File:Insectoid captain.jpg|Ancient insectoid File:Magnetic organism beams aboard.jpg|Magnetic organism File:USS Enterprise sciences engineer.jpg|''Enterprise'' science officer File:Guardian of Forever, 2269.jpg|Guardian of Forever File:Thelin.jpg|Thelin File:Erickson.jpg|Erickson File:Bates.jpg|Bates File:Aleek-om.jpg|Aleek-Om File:Vulcan healer, yesteryear.jpg|Vulcan healer File:Arex.jpg|Arex ( ) Recurring character File:Robert Wesley, 2269.jpg|Bob Wesley File:Carver, young.jpg|Carver File:Koloth2269.jpg|Koloth File:Korax 2269.jpg|Korax File:Gabler.jpg|Gabler Recurring character File:Romulan commander, 2269.jpg|Romulan commander File:Agmar.jpg|Agmar File:Stavos Keniclius 5.jpg|Stavos Keniclius 5 File:Lucien.jpg|Lucien File:White Rabbit, 2269.jpg|White Rabbit File:Control computer.jpg|Master computer File:Motherlode male Ursinoid miner.jpg|Ursinoid miner File:Motherlode Human miner.jpg|Human miner File:Mendant.jpg|The Mendant of the Terratins File:Kaz.jpg|Kaz File:Kor, 2269.jpg|Kor File:Xerius.jpg|Xerius File:Clayton.jpg|Clayton File:Aquan male, Argo.jpg|Aquan Tribune File:Domar.jpg|Domar File:Cadmar.jpg|Cadmar File:Chuft-Captain.jpg|Chuft-Captain File:Kzinti telepath.jpg|Kzinti Telepath File:Flyer.jpg|Kzinti Flyer File:Tom Markel.jpg|Tom Markel File:Sord.jpg|Sord File:Tchar.jpg|Tchar File:O'Shea.jpg|O'Shea File:Orion captain.jpg|Orion captain File:Orion ensign.jpg|Orion ensign File:Security guard the pirates of orion 1.jpg|''Enterprise'' security guard File:Ari bn Bem.jpg|Ari bn Bem File:Engineer the practical joker 1.jpg|''Enterprise'' engineer File:Dramen Supreme Prefect.jpg|Dramian Supreme Prefect File:Kol-tai.jpg|Kol-Tai File:DawsonWalkingBear.jpg|Dawson Walking Bear File:Kukulkan.jpg|Kukulkan File:Robert April, old.jpg|Robert April File:Karl Four.jpg|Karl Four * ** as an Iotian radio announcer ** as Enwright ** as NASA Mission Control announcer Books *''Beam Me Up, Scotty'' *''The Flight Engineer'' series: **''The Rising'' **''The Privateer'' **''The Independent Command'' Star Trek interviews * TNG Season 6 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Six" ("A Visit from Scotty"), interviewed on External links * * * Doohan received Walk of Fame Star at MSNBC.MSN.com * Obituary at News.BBC.co.uk * de:James Doohan es:James Doohan fr:James Doohan nl:James Doohan pl:James Doohan ru:Джеймс Духан eo:James Doohan Category:Performers Category:TOS performers Category:TAS performers Category:Film performers Category:TNG performers Category:DS9 performers Category:Video game performers Category:Saturn Award nominees Category:SFX Award winners Category:TV Land Award winners